From Soil To Story

Today our guests on the interview are our great friends Michael and Beth Gillespie, talking about all things food. This is the first of a two-part interview talking about farmer’s markets, food availability, the vegan lifestyle and more.

Every day we are looking for ways to improve our business; products, the Mercantile, marketing or even efficiency. You will also hear a bit about improved lighting in the studio.

Through the winter months, the onsite Farm Fresh Mercantile will be open on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays from 10AM to 3:00PM. Watch our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter posts for specials, including Whittaker Beef. Order beef, pork and chicken on line with them and pick up at Five Feline Farm when they are here.

Julia also described participating in NaNoWriMo and drafting her next book. To get her current books The Long Road to Market or Simply Delicious click here

If you familiar with our debriefings after a day at the Farmer’s Market, you will enjoy this recap of the beginning of our Mercantile season. Throughout the winter months, our business transitions to our on farm store The Farm Fresh Mercantile, known as “the Merc” for short.

The first day was awe-inspiring with the number of people who came to the country to shop at the Merc and visit with friends.

Plus, we announced the name of the corn crib…the A-Maize-ing Grainery. Thank you to Linda Barrett and Shannon Storm for contributing the name. Thank you also to those who brought gifts that warmed our hearts and encouraged us.

Today we share the loss of our honeybees. It has been a difficult thing to think about and an impact on our business. The hives have been part of our Farm for several years so it is very sad to be outside in the garden and not hear the buzzing all around as they work on flowers.

We will rebound and start again, but it will take a couple of years to build back to the previous level.

We’ve had a good week, things are looking up and we share a few fun facts. Shoutouts to Alyssa for being a Patreon supporter and Barb for giving us positive feedback on our Tea Tree Oil balm.

If you are interested in Julia’s latest book, The Long Road to Market, it is available on Amazon, at the Farm Fresh Mercantile or in digital form on our online store.

Thanks for listening!

The 2018 Farmer’s Market is complete. We recap our season and discuss what’s next for Five Feline Farm. Our Farm Fresh Mercantile (The Merc) will be opening at the end of October with the one year anniversary celebration on October 27, 2018 from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. We’ll also be establishing regular hours through the winter.

You can also read more about how we evolved from being isolated on the Farm to being in community with the vendors and customers at the Farmer’s Market in Julia’s latest book “The Long Road to Market” available now.

Today’s episode reveals how we managed to do all the things we needed to get done in a week, while also managing a family crisis. We discovered we can always squeeze in a little more by working creatively, accepting help and letting go of things that don’t absolutely need to be done.

Thank you for listening.

Flash back with us about how we named this business. We cover some of the most common questions about our name.

A rainy day can be good for lots of things. Our regular Saturday morning Farmer’s Market was cancelled, so we made the best use of our time we could and did some home canning.

We are scheduling upcoming events which are sure to be exciting. The corn crib name contest will run until October 1, 2018. Be sure to submit a creative name for the chance to win a cool prize.

You’ll hear about our new partnership during Mercantile hours and much more.

If you are so inclined, you can support us on Patreon for less than a cup of coffee a month and receive an exclusive mini ebook.